Collaborative Decision Making at the FAA/ATO

1. Collaborative Decision Making at the FAA/ATO A look at how CDM is applied in the U.S.

2. CDM in the US - Outline • Overview of the problem CDM is addressing • Early successes with FAA/ATO data sharing • Airport arrival constraints and managing equity thru ground delay programs • Airspace flow program (AFP) focused on en route constraints • CDM tools in development

3. Monthly Delay Annual Delay 30 25 20 15 Avg. Total Delay 10 5 0 Major US Airports - Demand vs. Delay Annual Ops 9 8.5 8 7.5 Annual Ops (Million) 7 6.5 6 5.5 5 Jul-07 Jul-02 Jul-03 Jul-04 Jul-05 Jul-00 Jul-01 Jul-06 Jan-07 Jan-03 Jan-04 Jan-05 Jan-00 Jan-01 Jan-02 Jan-06

4. ATO Dash Board

5. Early CDM Accomplishments • NAS status information is available on the Internet at http://www.atcscc.faa.gov/ois - Special Use Airspace data is available • Runway visual range data is available at 28 airports • TRACON Radar tracks available to airlines at major airports

6. Sample Benefits of FAA Data Sharing • Approach radar tracks available to Airlines • Enhanced terminal area situational awareness to Airline Operations Centers • Reduced the number of diversions • Estimated 3 - 5 diversions avoided per week during inclement weather ($5K - $100K each) • Improved recovery from missed approaches • Improved gate management at ramp tower • Increased accuracy on touchdown and gate times • Improved management of airline/airport resources

7. Highlights: CDM for Traffic Flow Management in the US • Initial CDM concepts were developed starting in the mid-90’s. • CDM-based decision support tool (FSM – the flight schedule monitor) and information exchange network (CDM-net) became operational in 1998 for the planning and control of ground delay programs (GDP’s). • Broad participation by FAA operations personnel and nearly all air carriers and more recently business jet operators. • “CDM-Group” meets regularly to develop new computer-based tools and operational procedures, to analyze air traffic data and problem areas and to solve pressing problems.

8. CDM Concepts and Features • Philosophical components: • improved information and common situational awareness • distributed control and decision making: • Decision made by most appropriate party • Economic tradeoffs made by appropriate flight operator • strong and continuous interaction among airspace system managers and flight operators • FAA—airlines • airline—airline; peer pressure • Technical accomplishments: • new fair allocation principles • shared decision support tool (FSM) • shared communications network (CDMnet) • Airspace Flow Program • Reliance on data analysis and objective critique

9. Motivation for Ground Delay Programs: airline schedules “assume” good weather SFO: scheduled arrivals: VMC airport acceptance rate: IMC airport acceptance rate:

10. Flight Schedule Monitor (FSM) • Decision support tool to monitor and control arrival demand at airports • Receives regular flight list updates from ETMS • Provides graphical and statistical displaysof arrival demand Flight Lists Hourly Demand Graphs

11. Ground Delay Programs delayed departures delayed departures control = flight departure time decision variable = flight arrival time (slot) delayed arrivals/ no airborne holding delayed departures

12. Ground Delay Programs (GDPs) • Used to control excess arrival demand at airports • Executed through FSM • Assigns ‘arrival slots’ to flights based on airport capacity • Releases each flight from its departure airport in time to meet its arrival slot … delayed to match capacity Excess demand …

13. Equity is the Challenge in Assigning Airline Delay CDM provides a Slot Exchange: - Intra-Airline Slot Exchange -- Cancellation and Substitution Process:slot-to-flight allocation viewed as slot-to-airline allocation; airlines can reassign slots they “own” to their flights in any way possible – as part of process they may cancel certain flights. - Inter-Airline Slot Exchange -- Compression: implements a type of inter-airline slot exchange in situation where airlines are assigned slots they are otherwise unable to use.

14. Arrival slot allocations Normal Capacity: arrival rate = 60/hr Degraded Conditions: arrival rate = 30/hr

15. GDPs under CDM Resource Allocation Process: • FAA: initial “fair” slot allocation [Ration-by-schedule] • Airlines: flight-slot assignments/reassignments [Cancellations and substitutions] • FAA: periodic reallocation to maximize slot utilization [Compression] Estimated that millions of minutes of delay are saved each year due to better use of available capacity.

16. Convective Weather Problem

17. GDPs as an Airspace Tool Control the Wrong Flights • Many flights in the FCA are not controlled because they aren’t going to the GDP airports Uncontrolled flights in the FCA • Many flights not in the FCA are unnecessarily delayed because they are going to GDP airports Delayed flights not in the FCA

18. Airspace Flow Programs (AFPs) • Uses FSM scheduling technology matched airspace demand and capacity problems • Lets traffic managers apply coordinated delays to flights overloading en route resources FCA parameters FCA flight list Updated demand Flight delays ETMS manages data exchange Create a Flow Constrained Area Meter flights in the FCA through FSM

19. AFP Operations • Uses established infrastructure and procedures for distributing and maintaining controlled departure times • Customers can avoid imposed ground delay by routing around constrained area • Resulting drop in demand will reduce all delay through ‘compression’ • Programs can be revised as demand and weather change, to make full use of all available capacity

20. AFP Benefits • Much more precise control of airspace demand • Reduce Ground Stops, diversions and airborne holding Before AFP With AFP versus • Distribute delay fairly among flights contributing to the excess demand • Avoid imposing unnecessary delay on flights that don’t use constrained resources • Provide customers more predictability and flexibility / options • The AFP is a building block for airspace congestion management

21. Other CDM Activities • Concept Engineering Activities • TFM Surface Data Initiative (TSDI) • Surface Traffic Count Monitor (STCM) • Departure Flow Management (DFM) • Route Availability Prototype Tool (RAPT)

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